Kerbal Space Program - The Ultimate Moon Landing Tutorial

[MultiMediaManny]

Why is it when i reach about 400m/s my ship starts spinning like crazy and i have to relaunch, only for it to happen again.

[man0warable]

i cant seem to get the three tri-couplers on, and neither the boosters nor the decouplers can go any lower (i'm on newest version (0.13.2))

[trydyingtolive]

@man0warable Put a second set of radial decouplers around the inner stack. This will push the tricoupler far enough out to work.

[Robsfund]

Damn son this is amazing, doubt I'll be able to manage it but definitely going to try :)

[DoDogaTz]

2:27 how do you make those stacks without moving your mouse? How do you get those white things inbetween fuel tanks?

[trydyingtolive]

@DoDogaTz The film is cut to make it quicker. I took out boring bits.

[XxR4dio4ctivexX]

guys how to stop the acceleration n continue if want?? plz

[ipo65]

Thanks a lot!!! After watching the video I actually managed to land on the Mun, although my ship broke down, leaving the intact command module sitting there for all eternity. Awesome tutorial!

[Bighugo1000]

Thank ya.

[Bighugo1000]

I have a question how do you get your screen to go so high I can only make my rocket a certain height

[trydyingtolive]

@Bighugo1000 I zoom out.

[trydyingtolive]

@Bighugo1000 Also if you right click you can move the camera. Also you can scroll up and down using your mouse scroll.

[spencertron88]

@Bighugo1000 If you click and drag the crew module on top, the whole rocket will move up with it.

[Navyguy2525]

could you build a shuttle or is that a mod for it

[trydyingtolive]

@Navyguy2525 Right now there are some add-ons you can get.

[NoobyNoon]

Did this really take 16-17 hours? That is what it said on the top left of the screen.

[trydyingtolive]

@NoobyNoon The mission? No it took about 20 minutes. The design and video? A couple weeks.

[Shuttheheckup735]

@trydyingtolive

He means mission time, you obviously used time compression though, who the hell could sit there for 16-17 hours... except the people from the Apollo program... XD

[Shuttheheckup735]

@NoobyNoon

16-17 ingame hours, yes, but he used time compression to make it faster in real life.

[11290lars]

Its the mun not moon... Saw on the wiki =3

[trydyingtolive]

@11290lars Either way is ok. The actual name is Mün, but I don't have a u with dots over the top on my keyboard. I also learned early on that mun is pronounced moon. I was pronouncing it m-uh-n. My bad. I try not to quibble over names.

[perci2112]

i can get the rocket to the speed point, but when i turn it, the rocket oversteers and plummets to earth, how do i fix this?

[perci2112]

@itchflea1, it does that sometimes, just tap the opposite direction to sort it, plus add the directional thrusters to the ASAS module to help

[perci2112]

how did you copy the parts downwards?

[Killamatrix243]

thats one small step for kerbal

and one giant leap for kerbalkind

Jebadiah Kerbal-2011

[CoolKillerClan]

to make a practice ship make the parachut a stage so your ship will stow down to 100-50km/h so it a bit less harder

[TheHb0mb3r]

YES!! I got to the moon. I just landed too fast, though, and my return home engines were destroyed. Now, I will try again!!

[supersushi269]

ROCKET SCIENCE

[listen2GnE]

how are you mutli grabbing parts?

[4masif]

Im having problems like most people. when it gets to attaching the tri-coupler it just doesnt work. i tried all ur responses to other peoples problems but it just doesnt work >.>!!! im rlly trying to get to the moon but there r so many problems i can seem to fix

[trydyingtolive]

@4masif I have a second video for an alternative moon rocket. It that doesn't work use two radial decouplers to push the outer stacks further out.

[SynMonger]

I was able to edit this craft file posted by someone else in 0.13.2 and got the tricouplers on just fine. Fixed one small imbalance issue, and used it for my very first stock part only mun landing.

(Take the spaces out, add periods) synmonger com/files/StockMuncraft.craft Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

[superotherguy1]

Could be WAY more efficient =/

[dominicjan]

gratz :D

[DannyShaubolo]

Of course this tutorial will become useless when they implement LEM's and other stuff for the moon!

[simonjapan4]

You have far too much time on your hands ;)

[simonjapan4]

Great Video but even with 13.2 I can not get the tri-Couplers to stick :( Any ideas?? (yes I have made sure that everything is really as low as it can go. and fyi l liked the commentary :)

[trydyingtolive]

@simonjapan4 Use two sets of radial decouplers. They changed the meshes in .13.1

[2312TOMAS]

@simonjapan4 place your radial decouplers a bit higher

[boneeman4]

a cool thing you could is once you leave the moon and your are in earths orbit again, instead of doing a retroburn, wait till you are at the pairapsise, and burn towrd 90 degrees until your apoapsis is back to earth and voila, you are succesfully back in earths orbit

[megeadargon]

i cant get the tri decoupler on those 3 solid booster,, i try everything but nothing works,, help please

[trydyingtolive]

@megeadargon .13.1 has some bugs. It really can't be done. I do have another tutorial that will get you to the moon with the bugs. It's called the Alternative Moon Rocket or something like that. Try that one out. Use some of the information from this video to help. But use the design from the Alternative video.

[CommandoDude]

Rocket could be more efficient if you use the solid rocket boosters instead of decoupling them without firing them. Just put decouplers on the bottom of the solid rockets.

[trydyingtolive]

@CommandoDude They actually fire when the rocket takes off. That way for the rest of the time they are on the ship they just empty shells.

[Jamriko]

The way you narrated this was pretty sad, but good job. xD

[IngoGallacher]

So, that three funny astronauts was returned safely back to Earth! :D Good job!

[just2stoned]

Issues: (with 0.13)

1. Solid rocket booster is on during liftoff and damages the tanks below it.

2. Placing the outside tanks was difficult because the pieces wouldn't line up on the bottom.

3. Spinning spinning spinning. I added a few mod sas nose caps to the tops of the solid rocket boosters to fix this. With only the 1 Adv. sas unit it would spin uncontrollably very fast.

4. Lift off power seems very low. I tried using modded engines with more output and it would not even lift off.

[trydyingtolive]

@just2stoned Just curious, what is your all stock original moon lander design?

[nixiang915]

Tip, press "x" to kill the engine from any throttle setting

[trydyingtolive]

@nixiang915 That's funny because I just found this out yesterday.

[Chrisocalypse]

Ive built your rocket exactly as you have shown but i run out of fuel well before i hit 550 mps. Anything you think i did wrong?

[cptorangutang2]

@Chrisocalypse try going higher before turning to 270 degrees.

[MrDiablo5222]

you have an amazing voice... no homo

[epicawesomesauceguy]

I FHATUE THTHIS IW$HTIE ISITSI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­! OIIIIIIIIII OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MMATTER HOW LOW I PLACE THE FREAKING COUPLER THINGS AND NO MATTER HOW LOW I PLACE THE FREAKING OTHER FREAKING SOLID BOOSTERS THE FEREAKIN G SKTUPEID TRICOPUPLER DOESNT GO ON AND IVE TRIED LOWEST AS ALL MOUSEKEYS PIXEL BY PIXEL AND INSI ITS ITIS ITISOL LTES JITA

[trydyingtolive]

@epicawesomesauceguy Breathe, breathe, breathe. I have two videos to show you alternatives. Check those out and then PM me if you still have problems.

[tomdotio]

Best tutorial so far – with your help I made it to the moon and back in the 4th attempt. Thanks a lot!

[brandon35335]

can you get a download for the rocket?

[trydyingtolive]

@brandon35335 Check out my Two to Five Hundred Sub Special. It contains a ship download.

[brandon35335]

@trydyingtolive no, i meant the ship in the ship file itself, but never mind, i made it, and great job with the minecraft one

[trydyingtolive]

@brandon35335 Glad you made it.

[Callan1296]

I used this way to land my space plane but I left the mun different.

[gteal24]

when i go to the launch pad my rocket breaks and tips over, then explodes. Why??

[Squishymcpwn]

@gteal24 It means your engines on the bottom are uneven. They need to be perfectly flat and level with each other or else your rocket breaks.

[MichaelkSimmons]

For some reason no matter what i do i cant seem to et the fuel tanks on. it is highlighted green but wont attach. any ideas whats wrong?

[TheHb0mb3r]

when i try to get it to 270 degrees, it spins out of control :(

[alphon5e]

mancrush alert

[fatwrecked14]

How the heel can i attach the tri connectrs t the solid fuel engines? i tried taking the things as far down as possible, no attach. tried little higher so it points more outward, no attach. how the hell dude

[mrspoon1259]

@fatwrecked14 I'm having the same exact problem. I give up

[fatwrecked14]

I have a problem with connecting the three tri connectors to the solid fuel rckets, what should i do

[TheZhoukui]

This is so cool! thankyou, sir.

[Keymasterr2]

Great video, outstanding commentary man.

[Dwifdude]

after you attatched a tri coupler, how did u put 3 fuel tanks at a time underneath it?

[TopHatIndustries]

I CANT GET THE FUCKING TRI-COUPLERS ON GODDAMNIT

[Rui2496]

myn broke right at the begining :(

[fatwrecked14]

okay NOW i feel noob. i just got the game, and i use spacebar to launch myself. (pretty shitty dumb cause it detaches everything) and i have gotten to max altitude 40104

[XCesium137X]

@fatwrecked14 lol, you're not a noob, the game can be difficult at times, even if you do know a lot about astro-physics and orbital mechanics

[NoCreativity70]

I find it easier using the RCS Thruster blocks. The tip of my rocket was like this (in order): Parachute, Command pod, 3x RCS fuel, w/ a 4-symmetry RCS thruster blocks on the top and bottom ones [end of stage 0], 2xStack decouplers in a row(you will want these in different stages; 1&2), Adv SAS Mod., Liquid Fuel tank w/ R8 winglets attached, T45 LFE[end of stage 3]. You have to land with the Decoupler from stage 1 in order not to explode. The rest is just like in the video, which is great btw.

[ItchyFlea1]

Despite my previous comment, other than the initial mission, I'm not able to get there. No matter what I do (even rebuilding the final stage) the craft starts rotating by the time I hit 550m/s with SAS on. Any tips or should I just rebuild from scratch?

[trydyingtolive]

@ItchyFlea1 This design does get pretty squirrely at a time or two. I have a video on fuel lines, and in that video I show a ship design. By placing the moon lander on top of that design you will be able to make it to the moon and return.

[djSting1]

@ItchyFlea1 Happens the same to me, exactly like that. If you get to fix it please let me know.

[ItchyFlea1]

@djSting1 The design @trydyingtolive has in his fuel-lines video works quite well. I'm able to get to the moon without much trouble.

[djSting1]

@ItchyFlea1 Yes, thanks for the reply. I have other designs and they work well for me to go to the moon. I was just wondering why that particular design, that I liked, doesn't work. I guess it's a bug, or perhaps even the slightest variation in the position of the modules might create it.

[Dwifdude]

@ItchyFlea1 i found that adding more strut connectors to the other fuel tanks stopped the craft spinning when it approached 550m/s

[TacticalSerenity17]

@ItchyFlea1 You just have to manually watch the rotation with the "Q" and "E" buttons

[TheNamo911]

@ItchyFlea1 not only what tactical said, but you cant do x2 speed or it will rotate like you say it does. 2x makes it rotate for me and its stupid

[SynMonger]

@ItchyFlea1 There's an imbalance somewhere. If you built it yourself, look for an engine that may have broken off on the launchpad, or a set of radial couplers that aren't put on using the symmetry tool.

[MrBark]

@ItchyFlea1 Recycle SAS quickly, off then back on. I sometimes get a rotation with SAS on after staging, but recycling it always nulls it when I encounter the problem, at least so far.

[TitaniumTyrant]

After an hour, I finally managed to make this, I loaded it up, and it exploded immediately D:

[reinocampo7]

good job man!

[ItchyFlea1]

Thank-you. =D

I accidentally blew my wings off prior to landing but I continued anyway. My Kerbals managed to survive the landing. The ship, however, didn't.

[PartHawk]

One quick question; If you "launch" a satellite into space and then end the flight, Will the satellite still be there on your next flight

[wilfordbrimleylover]

With the rocket in this video, I created an orbit waaaaaaaaay bigger than that of "Earth." Thanks?

[jakez069]

hey why does your water look so nice? mine just looks like a wall with a gif on it

[darklight249]

Subscribes* I love you man! (no homo)

[trydyingtolive]

@darklight249 It's cool. Total bromance.

[gamers209]

I was on target for the Mun but then to speed it up I set it to 10000X and I crashed before I could stop it.

[trydyingtolive]

@gamers209 Yeah the game doesn't cut out of warp soon enough sometimes.

[Timmysjoblom]

@gamers209 the same happend to me :(

[gosuchu]

Thanks for making this video. It helped me get to the moon for the first time.

What recording software are you using? Everything looks so smoooooth. All my recordings are choppy, and I don't think it's my system specs.

[trydyingtolive]

@gosuchu Right now I use fraps. It seems to work the best. I also have a fairly beefy system.

[gosuchu]

@trydyingtolive Is this fraps paid?

[TwoGamingPandas]

@gosuchu Free is 30 sec max.

Paid is $30?

Oh, and 1 minute recording is about 4 GB.

[DasGangle]

Well this is a bugger. I've missed the moon and am now flying out into deep space at 10,000 m/s. Houston will not be pleased.

[XCesium137X]

@DasGangle If you are going too fast close to the moon it will shoot you out farther into space. when you see the green line to the side of the moon, fire your rockets in the opposite direction that you are moving down that line and it will eventually turn into an entire orbit. Re-align yourself and fire again to slow down more until the periopsis disappears into the moon/mun. Then you can just ride the rest if the orbit until touchdown.

[DasGangle]

@XCesium137X Ok thanks, I think the problem I had was I forgot to slow down time so I didn't have enough time to react and align for orbit with the Moon. Thanks though, I'll do this.

[XCesium137X]

@DasGangle Yeah, that happens sometimes lol. They really need to make it come out of warp faster... But since the Mun has weaker gravity than Kerbin, even at the apoapsis of Kerbin, and at your slowest speed during the orbit, your still going too fast for the gravitational pull of the Mun, so just do a retro burn until it becomes a full orbit keeping in mind that you need to bring both the apoapsis and the periopsis close to the mun otherwise Kerbin will take you on a 4 day orbit...

[mar101998]

so professional



[xxLeeWolfxx]

Once I start getting out of the first level of atmosphere, where you are approaching 550 m/s, my rocket (Using S.A.S and build the same way as explained) rotates out of control (Q & E keys) When I try to correct it it is going to strongly to counteract it with the opposite key. Any idea what might be wrong?

[scot0129]

At 3:29, how'd you put the 9 fuel tanks without placing them one by one?

[trydyingtolive]

@scot0129 I placed 3 at a time. The video is cut to save time. Set the symmetry tool to 3.

[Hamster8267]

how do you did this at 01:49 you put down multiple radial decoupler with just one

[vampiricassassin41]

@Hamster8267 He says it, the 'Symmetry' tool. It's up on the top bar, just to the immediate right of the "crew" tab. The dot means it's set to just one. If you watch, you see it gain segments. The number of lit segments is how many it'll place, and in what pattern.

Hope I could help :D

[lukavid123]

yea I rebuild it, now i just need to get that sucker to tha moon!!

[MakeEveryMomentCount]

So... I did everything exactly as this video stated... but I did not get anywhere NEAR 500 meters per second by the time my first tanks ran out. I had the exact same fuel, engines, throttle speed etc...

[MrSporeowns]

@MakeEveryMomentCount thats impossible. you must have done something wrong.

either that or its a rare bug and should work fine if you try again

[MakeEveryMomentCount]

@MrSporeowns Could be because i'm on a mac? I got it working with mods anyway (still managed to miss the moons orbit and get catapulted into space though haha)

[MaxVengence]

around about 3:30 when you where placing your tri-couplers, you used the symmetry tool to add extra fuel tanks, but without going to the menu on the side, you placed another set straight below, is there a button you pressed?

[lukavid123]

i need help, i make the same rockets as you but when i want to liftoff my main boosters for liftoff dont egnite, only the middle ones, any tips?

[trydyingtolive]

@lukavid123 Sometimes the weight of the rocket can break engines off. Try rebuilding the rocket. Also make sure that the stages are set up properly.

[flamingpickleepic]

i cant get the tri cuplers to attach i even had the radio decoupler in the exaxt same pixil as u i juse dont know what else to try

[muusers]

I have been searching my ass off, and i'm just gonna ask it here; What do those 'RCS thrusters' Do?

[blackhoofs]

i once went super super far it was so werid

[redempterz]

Awesome tutorial! The tricoupler we're a bit tricky to get right but in the end (after 4 tries) I finally got to land safely on the moon! Thanks a bunch.

[MrTuoppi10]

I cant place the tripods!!! jesus its so annoying and i did watch the other video but it didint help help meeee! :,(

[IAlternateMyCapitals]

This was such a good video, subbed!

[pigpig252]

hey, i was experimenting with my own designs for a lunar landing, i got a succsesful design, bug ended up over shooting the moon and im now orbitting he sun! lol. my orbital course takes me within a few thousand kilometres of the sun so im interested to see what happens, also orbital view now shows the whole solar system instead of just around earth, which is cool

[pigpig252]

@pigpig252 edit: just passed cloe to the sun, nothing happened other than it being very bright

[oli2808]

really tricky flying that thing lol

[elborrachitgracioso9]

you speak like sheldon :D

[elborrachitgracioso9]

theres just one thing i can do.... We are whalers on the moon!

[pigpig252]

@elborrachitgracioso9 we carry our harpoon! but there aint no whales so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune!

[cptorangutang2]

You've earned a sub!

[GamerGuy699]

I cant get the tricouplers to fit on and for the life of me neither decoupler nor booster will go any lower without me being a magician

[trydyingtolive]

@GamerGuy699 There may be a bug in the newest version of the game. It seems pretty sketchy. I'm not sure what the fix is yet.

[2312TOMAS]

@GamerGuy699 you need to put tricouplers a bit higher .

[INEVURLOSE]

This is very many inspire. Someday i will be amass monetary to have make of the creating of my own space ship and it be will to use to go planets to colonize and many famous will be me to becas of my education and smart

[jakez069]

god damnit i finnaly got it to work and my engines messed up and wouldnt turn off and i overshot the hell out of it

[lemonadeonkeyboard]

now that your safely on the moon, take a moment tO BASK IN THE GLORY OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENT.

[trydyingtolive]

@lemonadeonkeyboard I love how you properly showed the switch in my voice in the word "tO"

[TheShadowAssasin89]

they flash green for a millasecond then go red

[TheShadowAssasin89]

ya cant get tricuplers to attatch to the solid rocket boosters in the first stage

[InstantDobie]

I did it!! YES!! i landed thank you so much you really helped me out, just need to get back now :)

[trydyingtolive]

@InstantDobie You are welcome. Good luck in future voyages.

[umdmrlbro]

I cant get the fucking tanks to attach to the tricouplers!! two attach but the third just kinda hangs around somewhere!

[curledp3n15]

hmm when i tried to build this it exploded because of the fact that the solid fuel boosters were burning the tri couplers, i dunno where i went wrong, what do i do

[trydyingtolive]

@curledp3n15 You can now use another liquid tank instead of the solid boosters.

[jakez069]

i keep spinning out of control like doing tons of barrel roles so bad to the point i cant even read the compass thingy in the bottom middle of the screen

[hellothrifty]

yeh after experimenting a bit i have come to the conclusion this design does not work at all with 0.13.1

[PhpXp]

@hellothrifty It does work, you just have to play with it... Try making a tri-coupler and fuel cells on another part of a rocket then attach it to the solid rocket boosters.

And then in the fifth try you will land on the Mun. It is a lot of fun :p

[hellothrifty]

do the solid rockets not damage everything below them?

[johnconner123451]

Great vid I've just sub

[hellothrifty]

I cant get the tricouplers to attach

[flamingpickleepic]

@hellothrifty i found a way to fix it if you put a radial decupler on the one that the vid so it extends it

[YMastersWRC]

@hellothrifty So do I...

[Tacoinmysoup]

You're a genius man. Have you played around with any mods yet? Are there any other planets or moons to land on?

[trydyingtolive]

@ManikBeaver I just tested it with the newest version. It works exactly the same. Check the video again make sure you put all of the stages in the right order.

[kirbster8]

Hey man, i'm using the 0.13.1 patch, and I can't seem to attach the first set of tri-decouplers, i'm using my razer Deathadder at the lowest sensitivity to get the radial decouplers and the solid fuel engines to as low as possible but i still can't get the tri-decouplers on. please help me out!

thanks :)

[topsoil12]

@kirbster8 I am having the same problem as you! I wonder if they might have patched it or something. I hope not... :(

[myztklk3v]

after watching this video i was actually able to figure out orbits and hitting the moon, using my own vanilla parts ship tho, havent been able to land on the moon yet, but i hit it a few times. best moon landing tut on youtube!

[steebai]

wtf, my rocket doesnt even have liftoff

[ManikBeaver]

@steebai you aint at full throtle, same thing happened to me before i noticed that :D

[Freyjrid]

for the life of me i cant keep this craft from spinning at about... 120m/s onward. Anyone else have this problem/ anyone have a solution?

[trydyingtolive]

@Freyjrid I've been having trouble keeping ships from spinning. I don't think vectoring engines are very effective in reducing spin. The newer version has magnified this problem. I have a newer design in my Let's Play KSP video and I use it again in the video on fuel lines. Try that rocket design and see if you don't have better luck.

[hobbified]

@trydyingtolive vectoring engines don't have any problem controlling spin, usually. Anyone having problems with rockets that seem to "want to spin" should make sure that their rocket is truly symmetrical (sometimes rounding errors mean that 1 out of 3 struts or something gets lost) and that no parts are overlapping other parts, because that makes Unity sad.